Harry woke up in a cold sweat for the seventh time that week. The nightmares had not stopped... He and Lucy had been living with Mike and Susan for a week now. And every single night, Harry had suffered another nightmare... One nightmare had Vernon beating him bloody before throwing him out a three story window. One had the fat walrus-like man running him over with his car. One had Vernon roughly throwing him off a cliff.

All of the nightmares were of the Dursleys hurting him.

After the third nightmare, he considered telling Lucy about it...but decided against it. It was just a silly dream...Not worth bothering his caretaker over...right?

This particular nightmare, though, where Vernon was burying him alive, felt so real...Harry could feel the soft dirt smothering him, he could feel himself being crushed underneath the cold, unforgiving earth... It was absolutely terrifying. The little boy couldn't help himself...He let out a tiny whimper and felt a few tears stream down his face.

"Harry...?" Harry hurriedly wiped the tears away at the sound of Lucy's voice and turned to her.

"Y-Yes, Lucy?" He asked, an audible quake in his voice. Lucy frowned.

"...Are you alright? I heard you whimper..." Harry nodded.

"I-I'm okay, Lucy..." Lucy's frown deepened. She didn't like that Harry was keeping something from her...But she wouldn't press him for details. If he wanted to tell her, he would.

"Well...All right..." Lucy turned to leave. "...You know you can tell me anything, Harry." And with those words, she walked out of the room. A part of Harry wanted to call out for her to come back, to tell her about the nightmares, for her to make things all better like she always did...But he refused to bother her after she had already done so much for him... And so, he laid his head against the pillow, and fell into another fitful slumber.

Unbeknownst to him, Lucy was watching him through the doorway. She had suspicions on whether or not he was truly all right, and she wanted to make sure he was telling the truth... She got her answer mere moments later when Harry once again began whimpering and tossing and turning in his sleep.

Lucy was in action almost instantly. She rushed to the little boy's side, concern written all over her face, and gently shook him.

"Harry! Harry, wake up!" She said loudly enough to wake him. Harry's eyes quickly snapped open, and he panted heavily before sighing with relief.

"J-Just another n-nightmare..." He said to himself softly.

"ANOTHER nightmare...?" Harry's eyes widened at the familiar voice, and he slowly turned his head to meet Lucy's concerned gaze.

"L-Lucy! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wake you! Please don't be angry!" Lucy placed her index finger over his lips.

"Shh...You didn't wake me. I...I never really left the room...I saw you sleeping...You were tossing and turning...Harry...Did you have a nightmare?" Harry looked down, shame written on his face, and nodded. "...You said it was another nightmare...Does that mean you've had nightmares with me before...?" Harry nodded again. Lucy looked at him sadly. "How long have you been having these nightmares for...?" She asked.

"...S-Since we g-got here..." Harry replied. Lucy teared up slightly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked simply. Harry refused to meet her eyes.

"I-I didn't want to bother you..." Lucy stared at him sadly for a few moments. Without saying a word, she reached over to Harry, scooped him up into her arms, held him close against her chest, and began stroking his back. Harry was taken aback by the display of affection, as he had essentially just admitted to lying to her face...But he did love it when she held him, so he snuggled closer into the embrace, eyes closed in content.

"Harry..." Harry looked up at Lucy as she spoke. "If you're upset...or scared...or hurt in any way...no matter what caused it, you can ALWAYS come to me. When you're afraid at night...that's something I need to know about. From now on, when you have nightmares...Please...Come and tell me. I won't hurt you, no matter what you do. I'll always be there for you. Always." Harry almost teared up. She really cared about him... "...What were the nightmares about?" Harry hesitated...But then he came clean and told his guardian all about the nightmares. All the dreams of Vernon torturing and killing him... Lucy closed her eyes and gritted her teeth at the thought of that fat bastard, as tears flowed down her cheeks...This was not the time to cry, however. Harry needed her to comfort him. The diclonius took a deep breath, and adjusted Harry in her arms to ensure he was comfortable. "...It's okay, Harry...He's never going to hurt you again...I'm sure he's getting punished for what he did to you right now..." That last part was her subtle way of saying that he was most likely rotting in the burning pits of hell.

"...Th-Thank you, Lucy..." Lucy smiled at Harry's soft voice. She looked down at the little boy as he rested his head on her chest, hoping to hear her heartbeat. She was unaware of how tender and loving the expression on her face was...As she continued to rub the child's back, she remembered a song she had heard before. She recalled the name of it being Lilium... Gently, the diclonius hummed the song to lull Harry back to sleep.

The combined effects of having his back stroked so gently, the sound of Lucy's heartbeat, and the soothing melody of the song she was humming quickly lulled Harry to sleep. This time, there were no nightmares.

Lucy smiled at the sleeping boy, then yawned and fell asleep herself, hugging Harry tightly like a child would a teddy bear.

From the doorway, Mike and Susan watched the whole thing.

"That is SO SWEET!" Susan gushed quietly. Mike chuckled.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was the kid's mom." As he said this, he went over to the couch and draped a warm blanket over the sleeping woman and child. "Eh, I have a feeling he'll be calling her mom eventually..." And with that, he and his wife went back to their bed, leaving the little wizard and his loving caretaker to sleep peacefully through the night.